[RobUK]

Picked the car up from the dealership Wednesday night after they'd fixed the 'pressure sensor' fault (supposed to fix the problem I was having with the car in M mode between 1500-2000 rpm).

Anyway, drove the car home, stuck it in the garage, didn't drive it yesterday then this morning after 2 miles as I'm accelerating up a sliproad into a dual carriageway.... BONG!



Car goes into what I can best describe as 'super slow Eco Pro' mode (limp-home?). Acceleration becomes non-existent and the car really doesn't want to go over 50mph.

For sale - 2012 328i, one careful owner. Bodywork - immaculate. Mechanics - a total feckin mess!

[Nick the Greek]

That'll learn yer not to buy a bloody 328i, awful cars.....

[Alkidrew]

What a mare. From memory, you've had shed loads of issues with your car haven't you?

[NISFAN]

Sorry to hear that Rob, that is a proper Friday car you got there, or was it built in Oktoberfest?

[Tengocity]

Nightmare! I suppose the only upside is that maybe, by doing this, whatever this issue is, it's not made worse!

[Cootie]

At least it is in warranty - this happened on my Dad's out of warranty 330d and it turned out to be 2 of the swirl flaps ingested into the engine causing complete engine failure and a c.£10k bill...

[MikeMinh]

The word drivetrain gives it away, it wants you to go home by train.

Terribly silly joking apart, isn't it actually a marvellous feature when a car with a major problem allows you to "limp home" on an emergency program?

Hope you can get it fixed soon.

[ikonic]

Doesn't sound ideal...... Hope you get it sorted soon. Must be annoying for it to happen again so soon after picking it up again.



Us 328i drivers don't seem to be having much luck of late - mine's still at dealers awaiting the part to fix the ignition fault that stranded me over a month ago!

[DazC]

I'd be looking into cutting your losses and trading that car in if i was you, considering the problems your having mate.

[HiBee]

Jeez!
I bet you're furious with all the recent troubles you've had
I notice it's an auto. Did you not have previous trouble regarding the autobox?
Sorry for you. As another poster pointed out, get ride asap if possible.

Just hope my 328i manual doesn't develop any mechanical troubles in the near future. That being said it's usually fixed under warranty, but a major inconvenience

[SomeRandomer123]

You unfortunate bugger!!! You've had nothing but trouble with this car. By now, I'd have lost my rag and got shut of it. As much as I love my 328i and do expect issues, I couldn't be having this much shit like you've had/having. That would be the final and very sad nail in the coffin for me really.

Let us know how you get on!

I say similar to this on damn near all your issue threads, but isn't it bloody strange that we've got damn near identical cars and kit, built at damn near the same time and mine has been fairly faultless in comparison. Mine's also considerably higher mileage (now 41,000) and by what we've discussed prior, gets poked a bit more than yours does.

Just my opinion, and it really pains me to say this about a car I love so dearly, but get shut.

[SomeRandomer123]

Originally Posted by HiBee

Jeez!
I bet you're furious with all the recent troubles you've had
I notice it's an auto. Did you not have previous trouble regarding the autobox?
Sorry for you. As another poster pointed out, get ride asap if possible.

Just hope my 328i manual doesn't develop any mechanical troubles in the near future. That being said it's usually fixed under warranty, but a major inconvenience

Already on his second gearbox yep!

[Apl440i or 335d?]

Sorry mate, your car is a lemon!

What do BMW have to say for themselves?

[dopper99]

Sounds like you need a new car now.

[RobUK]

Originally Posted by Nick the Greek

That'll learn yer not to buy a bloody 328i, awful cars.....

Initially I might have put up an argument, but now... I think you could be right

[RobUK]

Well they had the car in on Friday and then returned it to me the same day saying it was all fixed. They reckoned it was a 'shadow error' that had somehow got picked up again by the system and flagged (don't pretend to understand how that happens). I get the impression they didn't actually look for a cause, they simply reprogrammed to car to clear the error. Anyway, Friday night drove the car back to my place and stuck it in the garage. (Note, the drive from the dealership to my place is thru the suburbs - all 30/40mph limits).

Saturday morning, drove into Brighton, again all 30/40mph limits and no issues. Then I needed to go to Lewes so headed out on the A27. Soon as I got to 50mph... BONG! Warning comes up and car goes into limp-home mode again!!

Car is now back at the dealership and I'm running around in a 116i Sport Auto loaner

I appreciate modern cars are bristling with electronics and gizmos these days, but if the dealers and BMW UK (who are apparently involved as well) can't sort this sort of thing, well you lose all confidence. Maybe they should never have replaced the gearbox at 6K miles to fix that whine cos the car's not been right since

Will keep you posted.

[DazC]

Such bad luck mate.

How long have you had the car? No chance of rejecting it?

[MarkG_M5Comp]

Originally Posted by RobUK

Well they had the car in on Friday and then returned it to me the same day saying it was all fixed. They reckoned it was a 'shadow error' that had somehow got picked up again by the system and flagged (don't pretend to understand how that happens). I get the impression they didn't actually look for a cause, they simply reprogrammed to car to clear the error. Anyway, Friday night drove the car back to my place and stuck it in the garage. (Note, the drive from the dealership to my place is thru the suburbs - all 30/40mph limits).

Saturday morning, drove into Brighton, again all 30/40mph limits and no issues. Then I needed to go to Lewes so headed out on the A27. Soon as I got to 50mph... BONG! Warning comes up and car goes into limp-home mode again!!

Car is now back at the dealership and I'm running around in a 116i Sport Auto loaner

I appreciate modern cars are bristling with electronics and gizmos these days, but if the dealers and BMW UK (who are apparently involved as well) can't sort this sort of thing, well you lose all confidence. Maybe they should never have replaced the gearbox at 6K miles to fix that whine cos the car's not been right since

Will keep you posted.

Seriously?!

Time to visit Citizen's Advice or a decent lawyer to understand your rights. This would p**s me off soooo much (and you I'm sure)!

Gutted for you mate.

[RobUK]

Originally Posted by DazC

Such bad luck mate.

How long have you had the car? No chance of rejecting it?

Got the car July 2012 and for the first 6 months (6,000 miles) it was all good. Problems began when the gearbox began to whine in reverse - took it in and BMW UK recommended a new gearbox. Since then it's been one thing after another, some related to the transmission/drivetrain, others not.

The only saving grace so far is that the car hasn't stranded me, however... I get the feeling that's only a matter of time and that on some freezing cold night at 11pm I'm gonna be stuck somewhere with a dead car!

You buy a new car for worry-free motoring, the confidence it's not going to let you down, and you pick BMW in-part because it's a prestige make that's supposed to be better than many others. Given that the vast majority of you are enjoying your motors, that's probably true, but for the isolated case like mine where the car has issues, BMW should be able to make me happy somehow. Straight swap into an F30 335i (same spec of course!) or even a new M235i might do it.

[RobUK]

Originally Posted by MarkG335

Seriously?!

Time to visit Citizen's Advice or a decent lawyer to understand your rights. This would p**s me off soooo much (and you I'm sure)!

Gutted for you mate.

Other half's sister is a lawyer, and mother-in-law is a magistrate... and there's two other judges in the family. Don't usually like to cause a scene, but yes I think my patience with BMW is fast running out.

[pmheadwired]

I noticed a couple of you commment on the 328i being awful cars, how come?

[ikonic]

Originally Posted by pmheadwired

I noticed a couple of you commment on the 328i being awful cars, how come?

Because mine DID actually leave me stranded on a cold December night!


In all seriousness, I really like mine aside from fact it broke down and parts for it seem to be so rare I've been waiting over a month for a new ignition system!